Our human history shows us that people are gradually seeking moral enlightenment. We are not as violent, less xenophobic, and are more tolerant of people who do not share the same values as us. It has been a slow process, but our world has changed a lot in the last few centuries.
Religion is the exception. Religious authorities are still quick to tell us that we should give up our free will and believe what they tell us without questioning anything. Secular moral reasoning allows humans to ask questions and seek improvement in their lives. Religion wants to demand justice and to see all evils.
The archaic doctrines of conservative religions are constantly being exposed as the evil and immoral absurdities that they really are. This usually leads to conflicts as believers come to see the contradictions between what they know as the truth, and what the church tries to tell them.
Kate Kelly, lawyer and human-rights activist, founded a movement she calls Ordain Women. The Mormon church excommunicated Ms. Kelly because she publicly embarrassed the church leaders by asking that the all-male priesthood allow females to become priests. In the LDS church the “priests” are not ordained, they have a rite of initiation like a Catholic confirmation or a Jewish bar mitzvah.
Ms. Kelly considers herself a devout Mormon, but refused orders to stop speaking out publicly and to remove her website. Her defiant attitude let to her excommunication.
This is not something new. Every religion looks down on those who dare to speak aloud their dissatisfaction with their religion. Just to say that you disagree with some aspect of the existing religion is to question the authority of the church leaders. Those who have status and power within their churches truly believe that dissenters think they understand the word of God better than themselves.
With few exceptions, religions like to claim that God speaks only to certain people in certain places and at specific times. This is a privilege for the few and the elite. This allows these chosen few to dictate how humanity should live.
Our modern world, however, keeps colliding with the church leaders. While the monarchy is being discredited, democracy is taking hold around the world. Clashes occur when church members believe that their leaders are the chosen few, while also believing that the church doctrines should be put to a vote.
The lay Mormons involved on Ms. Kelly’s behalf are a prime example of church members clashing with their clergy. Over a thousand Mormons wrote letters of support for Ms. Kelly. Hundreds of people kept vigil during her trial in Salt Lake City. Around the globe people joined together to support her. She was still kicked out of the Mormon church for speaking her mind.
Roman Catholics also think they should have a vote in what the church is doing. When Pope Francis was selected, author Anne Rice, along with a few other people, asked all Catholics to let the Vatican know what they wished for in a new pope. These people actually thought their feedback was wanted.
Although there is no central authority in Judaism, the Jewish women in Israel fought for the right to pray at the Western Wall. They believed that the holy site, opened only to men, should also allow women to worship there. When they actually won the right to pray at the Western Wall the ultra-Orthodox men ordered their female relatives to take all available space in the women’s section. By doing this, they denied the women who wanted to pray there the right to get in.
The Presbyterian church has easily joined the modern world: ministers are now allowed to perform same sex weddings. This is an exception to the rule. Right now more and more churches are losing members and trying everything they can to bring them back.
On those rare occasions when churches see that they were wrong, they don’t seem to learn a thing from doing so. For instance, the Mormon church still insists there was no racism involved when they barred black men from being priests until 1978. Their fight against allowing women into the priesthood, and their total opposition to gay marriage is only hurting the church. They still have not learned that treating humans unequally is morally wrong.
While everyone agrees the Women of the Wall and Kate Kelly are doing good, one has to wonder when they should say “enough is enough.” Is it worth the hassle to continue to fight the church from within? The oligarchy of old men are too set in their ways to change a thing. Or, should these women simply renounce their religion and walk out into the wide world? Oppression, or the right to speak their mind in a world where the will of God can not hold them back? Most would choose the latter.
Source: Waking Times
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